Creamy kale and chickpeas with cashew sauce goes perfectly with this easy, colorful quinoa.
My daughter E graduated from middle school on Monday, so she’s officially a high schooler now. Yes, a high schooler. Those of you who picture her as she appeared in her first photo on this blog can perhaps appreciate how strange it feels to look at her and see both that nine-year-old girl and the beautiful, smart young woman that she’s becoming. Makes a mom feel proud. And old!
Anyway. Now that school’s out, summer is here in every way that really matters. After all the pre-graduation craziness of dress-buying and shoe-buying and house cleaning for house guests, I just wanted to rest my brain this week and not stress over posting a new recipe.
But wouldn’t you know it, last night I cooked two dishes that I’ve never written about before, so I felt obligated to give them their photo op and jot down their recipes so that I could share them with you. Both taste great on their own but somehow work even better together.
You can serve the Cosmic Cashew Kale and Chickpeas over rice or some other grain, but when Confetti Quinoa is so easy to make, you really ought to give it a try.
Cosmic Cashew Kale and Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon or broth powder
- 1 large onion diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper diced
- 1 clove garlic minced or pressed
- 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (or one 15-ounce can, rinsed and drained)
- 1 bunch kale central stems removed and leaves thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Hot sauce to taste
- 2-4 tablespoons fresh basil minced
Instructions
- Soak the cashews for an hour in hot water or overnight in room-temperature water. Drain. Place them in a blender and add 3/4 cup water, 1 clove garlic, and 1 teaspoon of broth powder (or 1 bouillon cube). Blend at highest speed until completely smooth. Set aside until needed.
- In a large non-stick skillet, cook the onion until it begins to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and garlic, and cook for another minute. Add the chickpeas, kale, and two tablespoons water. Cover immediately and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring often, until kale is tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the reserved cashew sauce, oregano, and salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Cook, stirring, until sauce thickens. If sauce becomes too thick, add a little water to thin. Add the fresh basil just before serving over Confetti Quinoa.
Nutritional info is approximate.
Confetti Quinoa is an extremely easy side dish that complements just about any type of food. Use it instead of rice with bean dishes, tofu, or seitan.
Confetti Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa , rinsed very well
- 1 clove garlic , minced or pressed
- 2 cups hot vegetable broth
- 1/4 red bell pepper , finely chopped
- 2 green onions , green parts only, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, toast the damp quinoa for a few minutes until it begins to dry out. Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT the green onions, cover, and cook on low until all the liquid is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy. Stir in the green onions and serve hot.
Nutritional info is approximate.
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JT
As always, beautiful pics and delicious recipes! I just learned that Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco has stopped using quinoa because of what the trade is doing to indigenous Guatemalans. They are suffering due to the high demand for their quinoa from which they aren’t benefiting. The cafe has switched to local brown rice. Whole wheat couscous would be another good alternative. I’ve made the switch too, and thought you might want to explore the issue. Thanks.
SusanV
I’ll look into it, JT. I do use local brown rice, but couscous is not an option for me because I avoid eating pasta except on rare occasions.
Gwyneth
The middle men appear to be the problem here. Looks like that issue is being addressed via a more direct route from producer to consumer.
Cut `n Clean Greens
that looks fantastic! We are going to share it on our Facebook page and send people here for the recipe!
Amber
Thank you for this recipe! Super healthy and so pretty. I love chickpeas and kale together and just recently resolved to eat more quinoa so I can’t wait to make this.
Emily
This look so delicious and fresh and clean!
Emily
Looks*
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner
Oh YUM!!!! I am always in the need of a quinoa recipe! I especially love that it has chickpeas in it! Thanks Susan! 😀
kelly marie christiansen
I love kale AND chickpeas….great recipe…can’t wait to try!
christopher kandrat
Excellent dish. One of the better looking dishes seen on here recently. Thank you!
Robin Judge
They look delicious – thanks for recipes. Can’t wait to try them. x
Junia @ Mis Pensamientos
love the idea of using a cashew based sauce, esp. paired with quinoa! 🙂 i’m going to bookmark this recipe for future quinoa eats. thanks susan!
Kalynskitchen
Wow, this definitely looks like a winner. I’m going to feature this soon for Meatless Mondays at BlogHer!
SusanV
That would be very appreciated, Kalyn!
Jessica @ Dairy Free Betty
This sounds fantastic! I always use cashew cream as a sweet thing, love the idea of it being savory!
I totally understand on the graduating front. I’ve been working with kids for a long time now, and yesterday I saw that one of the kids I had in my program when he was in kindergarten was graduating this year – EEK!
SuzzyQ
This was amazing! I had my neighbor down for dinner and all three of us really loved it. I’ll make this many times over & will try it with brown rice & perhaps millet.
Thank you so much for an elegant yet easy recipe.
Wendy (Healthy Girl's Kitchen)
What a great way to eat your beans and greens!
Liz
I made this last night and both dishes were delicious and totally complimentary to each other. I do agree that couscous would be a good alternative if one didn’t have quinoa. I will definitely keep these recipes in my repertoire.
Laloofah
Wow, I can’t get over how E has matured, nor that she’s now officially a high schooler! Congratulations to her on her graduation.
This is such a pretty and delicious-sounding dish! Kale is our favorite veggie, too bad organic kale prices are stratospheric here right now, but I’ll definitely save this to my recipe box.
laloofah
Oops, didn’t mean for my comment to appear as a reply to Liz! (Though it’s nice to hear how much she enjoyed the recipes!) 🙂
France @beyondthepeel
I love chickpeas and Kale together in harmony. THEN YOU ADD QUINOA! perfection. Great post.
Terita @ Ten Ingredient Project
This looks delicious and I appreciate the alliterative recipe name 🙂
SusanV
Thanks! It’s a mouthful, though!
jenny
I made this last night. Truly one of the best things I have ever eaten! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes.
Andrea @ Vegvacious
This meal includes so many things I love! I can’t wait to give it a try.
Your daughter is a gorgeous girl — what a change over the years!!
heidi kellner
Wow. I just made this for dinner tonight and everyone loved it. The 14 year old said “This is really good Mom” (of course I said don’ thank me, thank Susan V. My husband was singing the Cosmic Kale and Chickpea song and declares this his new favorite. So thanks for another great recipe. (We served it with brown Jasmine and wild rice mix that I toasted before cooking – thought it accompanied the nutty flavor well and everyone wanted more hot sauce, but I think our “Wizard’s Hot Stuff” might not be very hot… Anyway – just great. A+ Thank You for sharing.
Veggie
I was thinking of looking for new kale recipes then saw this on my google reader. I tried it last night, and thought it was delicious. I used extra kale and chickpeas to spread out the sauce to reduce the calories per serving and it was still enough. Thanks for the recipe, I had never tried kale and chickpeas together before, and the cashew sauce would be good for other veggies / stir fries.
moonwatcher
Susan, this looks fantastic–so colorful and deicious–and I love the name, too!! So many of my favorite foods.. .thanks for posting!!
xo
moonwatcher
Caryn Coleman
I love your recipes and gave this a try yesterday. My version was a little bland. What would you use to brighten things up? A little lemon? Red pepper?
More than likely I forgot to add something, of course! Thanks and congratulations on the graduation *and* all the prep work for same. Such times.
SusanV
We added extra hot sauce at the table which really heated it up. Other than that, I’d say add more fresh basil. Can’t go wrong with basil! I also like the idea of adding lemon juice to brighten the flavors.
Camp
Do you have a receipe for g abanzo alfredo? Had it at a vegetarian cafe–delicious!
sowji
Wonderful receipe. My infant loved his greens and lapped it up 🙂
Eftychia
This recipe really looks and sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Jane
I made this recipe two days ago and it was delicious! Though I love Vegan restaurants, I’m fairly new to cooking meals. I am already several weeks into the 8 week becoming a Vegan plan I found online. http://www.fitango.com/actionplans/8-Weeks-to-Becoming-Vegan/9098
Marina
Susan
Thanks for this amazing recipe. I made and it was incredible good and comfortable. This is my new comfy food! Thanks again! XXOO
Stephanie
Made this last night….very good. Dave said he thought a side of some varied chutneys to dabble in along side it would have been nice. He’s a new vegan convert …. may try his suggestion next try around.
thanks for the great recipe!
nanook
Excellent recipe. made it and ate it without quinoa (didn’t have any) and it was still very tasty. the dash of hot sauce was the icing on the cake. thanks!!
Con Conz
Just made this for the first time, and its definately gonna be a regular 🙂
Allison
Made this tonight with a few changes.. used shredded salad carrots in the quinoa instead of bell peppers (didnt have any) and added about 10 minute in on the quinoa cooking. I used “no chicken” better than bouillon for the veggie bouillon in both the quinoa and the cosmic chickpeas and kale, and added fresh italian oregano from the garden into the blender with the cashews instead of dried. Came out amazing! Even my meat eating husband tried a bite (never actually eats any of my vegan dishes but has an open mind to trying things) and said it was “mmmm…..pretty good” which is just about a miracle as he usually only likes chicken hot dogs, tuna salad and ceasar salad… I will be making this again soon, especially since my kale has been growing like mad with our cool Oregon spring weather! Thanks!
Ada
This was delicious! The cashew cream was easier to make than I thought, and the meal was both tasty and satisfying. Thanks for a great recipe!
Kelly@RahRaw
YUM! This looks good! I love your site, both the blog and the fatfreevegan.com site – it has helped me soooo much through the years!
Cara
We just finished eating this for dinner tonight. It was so delicious, thank you! I just made the kale, not the quinoa, and served it along with some grilled lemon-garlic tofu. Looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow!
FoodFitnessFreshAir
Oh, this looks so good. I love cashew sauces. Great site! Will be coming back.
Bobbie {thevegancrew}
Hi Susan, thanks so much for this recipe! I haven’t been able to find many kale recipes that I like, so I’m SO glad I stumbled across this one. I absolutely love it! I wanted to let you know that I just posted about it on my blog (with a link to your original post for readers to get the recipe).
jenny
yum yum yum! just finished a bowl full of this for dinner! cashews, kale and chickpeas are pretty much my favorite things 🙂
susiequeue
Hi Susan
Love your recipes but can’t seem to subscribe! Please will you add me to your emailing list?
Many thanks
Nathan
Great meal. Just made this for dinner, and it looked just like the picture in the blog. It was a big hit, so much so, my partner agreed to do the dishes if I make it again!
KJ
I just had the kale with cashew cream for my lunch. Amazing!
I bet it would be even better with the quinoa, though.
Cherie
I made this a few weeks ago and took it to church for potluck. It was a hit. Even the kids were going back for more. (All of our church potlucks are vegetarian)